His River
by beyonceinthetardis
Summary: The Doctor and River have a secret that not even Amy and Rory know - at least not yet.  Rated T for implied adult themes and a bit of coarse language.
1. The River he didn't know

**The River he didn't know**

**This is my first ever fic, basically a River/11. BBC, I do not own River or the Doctor (however much I might want to) but I do own the dog. This is also not a oneshot, I will do many more chapters!**

He had checked everything. Where she lived, what year it was, how old _she_ was, where they were up to...he knew it all.

Sexy took him where he needed to go, and the Doctor stepped out of his beloved blue box, straightening his bow tie. He'd forgotten already which town he was in, he wasn't interested in that. He was only interested in River.

The block of flats towered above him. He didn't need to check the floors or numbers to find out which house it was, the one painted in a deep, brilliant shade of blue told him all he needed to know. TARDIS blue.

"River," he whispered eagerly and ran up the stairs and rang the bell.

No answer.

"River?" He rang the bell again desperately wanting her to be there and to hold him to her so, so close. He missed her so badly and he knew he'd been a horrible husband, leaving her for so long. Seven months, the TARDIS had told him crossly. She liked River, having taught her to fly her. But he'd been so busy, saving the universe time and time again, that seeing her had been impossible. The guilt, however, still festered inside him, bubbling and boiling in his old, deep Time Lord soul.

The door was wood, so his sonic screwdriver wouldn't work. Instead, he soniced the window and climbed through, searching from room to room, seeing no one and nothing...

Until he reached her bedroom.

He hesitated as his hand touched the doorknob, but he told himself he was being silly, and quietly pushed the door open.

The bedroom was empty, but he went in anyway. The walls were painted blue, just like Amelia Pond's had been, and there were drawings, models, stuck up everywhere. So much like Amy's.

The Doctor made his way over to one wall, where there was no blue to be seen, just a sea of letters. Letters from her earliest childhood, letters from now. He read the first one, and his two hearts began to ache.

_Dear Mr Doctor, _it read in large, childish handwriting,

_I don't think I am supposed to be writing to you. Madam Kovarian says you're a bad bad man. But I'm confused. When I was in the spacesuit, I saw my Mummy. Then she shot at me. I was scared. Why did she do it? Doesn't she love me anymore?_

_And there are monsters. I don't like them. I called Mr President, but he didn't listen. Then you came. Why? I escaped, but Madam Kovarian found me again. I don't really like her but shhhh, don't tell her._

_I can't send this to you, but it's nice writing letters. It makes me feel better._

_Love from Melody._

The Doctor stared at little Melody Pond's letter and wiped the tears off his cheeks. He imagined Melody writing this, her heart weighed down with fear. He imagined just what Madam Kovarian had done to make her a psychopath and his hearts burned furiously. He knew at that moment that Madam Kovarian had to die, and not in an aborted timeline. She had to die _now._

Then he remembered that he had to wait for River, and skimmed through the letters, one by one. Little Melody's continued for six months and then Mels came in, her letters bright, bouncy and colourful. And then suddenly older Melody came back, and the letter was so bitter that the Doctor started crying again.

_Doctor,_

_I'm riding on a motorbike in Berlin and in about half an hour, you'll be dead. My last letter to_ _you, sweetie. I don't really want to be writing to you, but I have nothing to do except ride this bloody motorbike until I reach some shops, and I'm a multi tasker. And I thought I should carry on the letter-writing 'tradition'. Killing you apparently didn't take all day, did it?_

_My last question is:_

_Who is River Song?_

_Poisoned kisses,_

_Melody._

_PS: I'll make sure my bumbling parents get home. And I'll throw your dead body into the Void._

The letter after that was:

_Doctor, _

_I'm so sorry. That bitch Kovarian, she got it all so bloody wrong. Come back, please. I know you know me from the future. Am I a good person then? _

_I'm in the hospital. What's the blue diary for? It looks almost like the TARDIS._

_I love you, sweetie, and I'll see you again someday, I know that. I'm going to study archaeology to find you once more._

_Love, River xx_

Then there were more, each asking why he hadn't come to see her for so long. The last one was dated yesterday and it made the Doctor smile and cry at the same time.

_Doctor, _

_Last week, I painted the house blue again, the paint was fading. Come back, sweetie, please. I know all too well that you stuff up with time, but I need to see you again. It's been seven months and I think it's going to kill me._

_Life here is so bloody DULL! All the neighbours complain about the noise of the sonic transmitter I've been building for the archaeology course. 21st century is boring. I don't know how my parents can stand it._

_Come back._

_River._

The Doctor couldn't wait any longer. He brushed away the tears and got out of the house. There was a park nearby and he walked casually down the street, nodding to an old lady hobbling by with a walking frame. He walked into the park, where he saw a figure walking a dog. As he moved closer, he saw the mass of blond curls and grinned.

River wore a loose white T-shirt and black jeans. Her feet were bare and muddy as she threw a stick to the dog, who was small and scruffy. The Doctor looked at her, confused. This was a River he didn't know.

"River?" he asked.

River's head snapped around and she stared at him, wide-eyed. Then, faster than he could blink, she stalked over and slapped him in the face.

"Ow!" he cried angrily. "River!"

"_That_," growled River, "was for leaving me alone for seven months without knowing where the heck you were!"

The Doctor backed away, palms raised in surrender. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he gabbled. "I -"

River grabbed him and kissed him roughly, pulling herself closer to him, grinding her hips against his. "We'd better go back inside the TARDIS," she whispered seductively.

"She never fails to surprise us, does she, love?" the Doctor agreed.


	2. Two Months Later

**Two Months Later**

**This is a really short one, by the way. Thank you so much to my 2 reviewers!**

Two months later, they came down to breakfast like normal, both in dressing gowns and with tousled hair. They acted like a married couple now, though it was obvious that River was in charge. They had visited Amy and Rory a couple of times and seen River's new brother and sisters, who were all human. James, Eliana and Hayley were fascinated by their big sister and her husband, and had known about the Doctor since their earliest days.

"My God," River moaned. "I'm so tired." She put her coffee mug down and sighed. "It's cold. Doesn't the TARDIS have a heater?"

"Yeah, she does, she's just cross with me so she won't turn it on."

"Why?"

"I nearly piloted her into a black hole last night and had a little accident with an asteroid."

"_That_'s what that bloody crunch was. Is she OK?"

"And you're the one who told me off for caring about a blue box."

River smiled ruefully. "I'm just going to have a shower, 'kay?"

The Doctor looked at River's disappearing figure and yelled, "OK love!"

River undressed and stepped into the shower, where the water fell on her like warm sunshine. Normally she would have loved a nice warm shower, but there was something on her mind. She knew she'd have to tell the Doctor, but she didn't know how, and she had to be absolutely sure first. She looked down at her belly, prodding and pinching it. She could have just put on weight, but the rest of her was still relatively slim. "Oh God," she whispered.

She stepped out of the shower, quickly towelling herself dry, then slipped on a robe and crept out of the bathroom and into the medical chamber. She thought of the Doctor, so oblivious to what was spinning around in her head. She pulled the robe off again and demanded, "Full medical scan."

The TARDIS medical machines whirred and buzzed, first checking for any cuts and bruises. They found a rather nasty bruise on River's leg, but she told the machines that it would heal, so they kept checking. Checking for any vein or artery blockage, any sore teeth, everything. And finally, they checked River's belly.

"Positive," the machine beeped.

"What is it?" asked River, her face pale and her voice hoarse.

"Pregnancy. Two months along."

River pulled the robe on again and ran out to her and the Doctor's bedroom, where she pulled on some clothes and raced back to the kitchen. "Doctor," she panted.

"What is it?" The Doctor looked up from his breakfast in alarm.

River took some deep, composing breaths and gradually, her heartbeat slowed slightly from its relentless banging. "Nothing," she said.

Immediately, she felt like the worst person ever. She was such a bloody _coward_, not being able to tell him. They had created a person, a person, and she didn't want to tell him?

But he was the Doctor and she didn't know how to tell him. More than anything, she wanted to see her mother. Amy had gone through this before, she _knew_ what it was like...yes, River needed to talk to Amy.

That night, while the Doctor was sleeping, she crept out of bed and put her clothes on. Then she gently flew the TARDIS to Leadworth and landed, without the brakes of course, and crept out, leaving a scribbled note on the console.

_Don't tell him,_ River thought to the TARDIS. _He can't know yet._


	3. Scared and Running

**Scared and Running**

**Thanks for the reviews! Hope you like this one. Hopefully it'll be longer than the last **

The Doctor woke up and the first thing he noticed was...no River. He usually woke up her her snuggled on his chest, her curly hair tickling his face. But she wasn't there, and the feeling brought a deep sense of loneliness. But then again, she could have got up early and made breakfast. Although it was seven in the morning, and they usually didn't have breakfast until ten.

He got out of bed, and got dressed, and walked out to the console, where they had breakfast on Saturdays, because Saturdays are cool. It was Saturday today. "River?" he called, but there was no one there.

He vented his feelings on Sexy, pounding the console in frustration. There were about a hundred rooms where she could be, but it was still too early. He knew her routine like the back of his hand. "Where is she?" he asked Sexy angrily.

No reply, just a quiet breath. Sexy was asleep, how _typical_ of her. "Sexy," he growled angrily, "_wake up_!"

Sexy groaned inside his head and sleepily mumbled, _What?_

"Where. Is. River?"

_How should I know?_

"Sexy, stop it. You _know_ yourself inside out. Even when you are asleep, you would know if someone walked out of _these front doors_. Don't play games with me."

No reply from Sexy.

"Aaagh! My own _box_ sides with my ridiculously stubborn wife." He strode out the doors and gaped. The TARDIS was in Leadworth. Last time he checked, the TARDIS had been in Raxacoricofallapatorious.

Why would River be going to see the Ponds without letting him know?

He began to run, shouting River's name. What the hell was going on?

And then he realised, "Oh, shit, I left the TARDIS doors open."

Reluctantly, he jogged back and closed the doors, but not before he'd noticed the scrap of paper on the TARDIS console. He recognised River's signature immediately and snatched the note up, speed-reading it.

_Doctor,_

_I'm sorry. But I know something you don't and I need to go see Mum. I promise to tell you what the 'something' is when I'm back._

_River._

"And that's all the explanation you give?" he scowled, and stuck the note in his pocket. "River Song."

He ran all the way to the Ponds' house, where he banged on the door and yelled "RIVER!"

Rory opened the door, a mildly confused expression on his face. "Doctor?"

"Where's River?"

"No idea."

"Won't believe _that_ until I see it."

Amy appeared, peeking around the door. "What's wrong?"

"River's missing."

"River?"

"Yeah, and I need to find her. Now."

Rory had turned white. "Doctor...what's that on the lawn?"

The Doctor spun around and stared. A dangerously pale arm poked out of the bushes. He walked over to it, and got into the bushes himself, and found the arm connected to a body.

"Oh River," he whispered. "Who did this to you?"

River's face was white as fresh snow. She'd been stunned and left here in the bushes. For perhaps a whole night.

"Doctor. Who is it?" Rory came behind the bushes and stared. "Who the hell did this to her?"

Amy came running around too, and gasped, horrified. "Melody," she whispered, the word catching in her throat. She looked at the Doctor for comfort. "Will she be OK?"

"Yes," the Doctor said. "If we get her into the TARDIS quickly." He lifted up her limp body and carried her down the road. He looked over his shoulder, yelled at Amy and Rory, "You coming?" and they headed after him.

As soon as they got into the TARDIS, the Doctor laid her down, brushing her hair out of her face. "River," he whispered again. "Please be OK."

He got up and fiddled around with the console, telling Sexy what to do. River already looked a bit better, because good old Sexy was helping. The Doctor grabbed the freshly made beaker of strange medicine that was steaming slightly, and poured the right amount into a cup.

"Wait!" Rory called. "Doctor, what the heck is _in_ that?"

"Um..." the Doctor thought. "It's basically radioactive dried lava, crushed up and added to a bit of liquid stuff called raxlon, you wouldn't know it, it's from Clom, but it's basically liquid uranium. And it's liquorice and asparagus flavoured!"

"Wait a second!" Amy yelled. "You are _not_ giving our daughter that!"

"Just watch me," the Doctor replied. And he tipped the cup's contents into River's slightly open mouth.

"NO, what the hell?" Rory yelled. "You can't give liquorice-asparagus flavoured radioactive uranium to someone!"

The Doctor laughed. "Rory," he said, "there's a lot they haven't taught you at medical school."

River began to cough repeatedly, gasping for air, but then fell back, breathing regularly and easily. "See," said the Doctor. "She's fine! Now - "

"- all she needs is rest," Rory finished. "They taught me that at least."

"I think I'm going to throw up," muttered Amy. "_Liquorice-asparagus flavour_. And you thought that would make the taste of radioactive uranium better."

**The foods I hate most are liquorice and asparagus, so I guessed that both of them combined would taste even **_**more**_** disgusting than they do normally.**


	4. Suspicious Ponds

**Suspicious Ponds**

**To my amazing reviewers, YOU ARE AWESOME! Hope you all like this one **

It was days after the attack and River still hadn't told anyone about the baby. Neither the Doctor or Rory had noticed (well, why should they?), but Amy... River wasn't so sure. Her mother had three more children now, if they were right in the timeline, and she would surely notice the signs.

"You alright?" It was the Doctor, coming back to her with a glass of wine. "Thought this might cheer you up."

River paled at the sight of the glass. "Sorry, I don't feel like it right now. I just -"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "River, what's going on? You've been acting strange for ages. You ran off to see the Pond's in the middle of the night without telling me, you got attacked and since then, you've been so bloody _distant_. I mean, you're not one to say no to a glass of wine. What happened when you got attacked?"

"I don't know, Doctor. I just don't remember, alright? Anyway, it's not that."

"What is it then?"

"I'm pregnant."

The Doctor stared at his wife, this impossible, mad woman who had kept this crazy secret from him for nearly a week! "River," he said slowly, "are you sure?"

"The TARDIS scanners are sure."

The Doctor grinned with delight, shocked but filled with joy. "So...you're actually..."

"I'm actually pregnant."

"River, what's wrong? You look all so..."

"Doctor, I was Melody Pond. I was a psychopath. And now...what if my baby is a psychopath? What if she gets taken away by Kovarian?"

"You were once Melody Pond, but now you are River Song. My wife. And our baby will be the most wonderful brilliant person in all the _universes._ Kovarian will be dead before our child comes into the world."

River managed a weak smile. "You're not one to make death promises."

"I'm not. Amy will kill her again."

River laughed at that and gave the Doctor a peck on the cheek. "Let's go visit my parents. So they know I'm OK."

The Doctor grinned happily. The Ponds would be incredibly suspicious that their oldest daughter had been given radioactive uranium.

"Can we go in my brother and sisters' time?"

"Sure," the Doctor said, then looked at her closely. "You don't want to tell them, do you?"

River sighed. "I _do_, but I _don't_. Rory will go all Centurion and Mum will be all...you know. I'm still in shock, and I don't think I'm ready yet. It's so weird being pregnant, there is a _child_ growing inside you."

"OK River," the Doctor said quietly. "It's your decision."

River went to change, but took great care in that, choosing a loose blue dress that would hide her tiny bump well. The Doctor wore his usual outfit but with a TARDIS blue bow tie. River decided to question that later.

They stepped out of his box into sunny Leadworth air. The Doctor had managed to land in the Pond's roses and a very angry Amy was waiting for them.

"You crushed my roses!" she complained crossly. "I _finally_ had them growing perfectly. They were the _only_ roses that Rory hadn't 'mistakenly' slashed up with his sword and then your great big TARDIS comes and all but destroys them!"

"Blame the Doctor, not me," River muttered hurriedly and Amy smiled at her daughter. "Men," she whispered back. 

"Doctooooooooooooooooooooooor!" Hayley came racing from a swing, where a book had been dropped carelessly on the ground. "I've been waiting _forever_!" She hugged him and he hugged her back.

"The girl who waited," he told his niece and winked at Amy.

"What, is the Doctor here?" James came running up. "Doctor! We haven't seen you for months and you missed my birthday!"

"Oh, what? Stupid me, when was that?"

"Sunday the eighteenth of March. I turned eleven."

"Oh _that_ Sunday...I think I had to save the universe that day. Yeah, I remember that now."

"What from?" An out-of-breath Eliana had caught up with the rest of them, along with her father.

"Cybermen. Remember that, River?"

"Uh...yeah..."

"Come in, come in." Rory stood at the front door, ever the host.

The Doctor and River made their way in to the lounge room and squashed together on one of the armchairs. The Doctor's arm was resting next to River's very-hard-to-notice-if-you-either-weren't-looking-closely-or-you-weren't-a-Time-Lord baby bump, and he couldn't understand how he hadn't noticed it before. I mean, he _slept with her_, for God's sake. Why hadn't he felt the baby? It was easy to notice if you were a Time Lord. It was like a...

"Perception filter," he muttered. But he was sure River hadn't put one on herself. So, who had?

"What?" Rory looked at him questioningly. "Perception filter? What's that about, Doctor?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking Time Lordy thoughts."

"Come on," Amy laughed. "Give your old mum a hug, Melody."

River got up and hugged her mother, keeping her belly away in case Amy would notice. Amy looked at her daughter strangely, but shrugged and took no notice.

"So, how's things?" asked Rory. "We haven't heard from you for ages. What have you being doing, saving the universe?"

River laughed. "No, we've been actually having a lot of-"

The Doctor glared at his wife. "Shut up River," he hissed. He turned back into boisterous, smiley Doctor again. "So, how're the kids?"

"My God," moaned Amy. "OK, first James and Eliana come home covered in mud, and I mean literally _covered_ and then they go out and play football and eat dinner, then go out and play football again until nine-thirty and do nothing but talk about sport for half the night - I mean, how sporty can you get? Then Hayley spends all of her time stuck in her books and for that, she gets bullied at school. She's a mini Rory. She can't get out of the bloody books now, she says she has to read all the Dickens. And she's only seven."

River burst out laughing. "I read all the Dickens when I was _four_, but she is doing pretty well."

"Considering she's not a Time Lord," Amy added. "She's hilarious."

"What about you?" Rory asked. "Secret universal conspiracies we can't know about?"

"Well, as I was _trying_ to say, Dad, it's been more about-"

"By Rassilon, River, SHUT UP!" the Doctor yelled. He grinned apologetically at the Ponds. "Sorry, sorry, universal conspiracies, yes." He hissed in River's ear, "Do you honestly think they want to know about our sex life?"

"Mum would," River whispered back.

"River, I don't want to be speared on the end of your father's Centurion sword, OK? We're trying to keep this whole baby thing a secret and Amy's already suspicious."

By the end of their brief visit, the Time Lords were completely convinced that Amy was suspicious and she would tell Rory that she was suspicious. But River still didn't want to tell the Ponds and the Doctor decided he would have to find a way to tell them himself.


	5. Back To Her Birthplace

**Back To Her Birthplace**

**I can't believe I'm up to the fifth chapter! Wonderful reviewers, keep reviewing, you make me so happy!**

"River, please remember."

"I told you, sweetie, I can't! I didn't even _see_ the attacker's face, for God's sake. Someone crept up behind me and stunned me. There. End of story. It doesn't matter."

"There is some mad murderous person trying to kill you."

"Doctor, they only _stunned_ me."

"Well then, it could be Kovarian. She could want you back."

"Shut up please."

"River, do you really want Kovarian to take your baby like she took Amy's? Do you really want to never see her grow up?"

"For God's sake, just SHUT UP!"

River stormed out of the console room, cursing pregnancy hormones. She knew Time Lord pregnancies were shorter, lasting only eight months, but everything happened earlier and bordered on the extreme. She and the Doctor had about five fights a day now, and she was only three months along.

Later, the Doctor knocked softly on their bedroom door. "River?"

No reply. The Doctor entered anyway, although there was the risk that he would cop a bloody earful from it.

River sat hunched up in the corner with nine empty tissue boxes strewed around the floor. Her eyes were red and blotchy from crying and the Doctor came over and gave her a hug.

"Hey," he whispered. "It's OK."

Sometimes, he thought, River was just like a little girl, lost and afraid and alone.

But she'd never be alone when she travelled in the TARDIS.

With him.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The Doctor opened the doors and proudly announced, "Mexetor 3!"

River laughed as they ran outside onto the asteroid. The stars twinkled brightly in the green sky and the Doctor spread out the picnic rug. River sat down awkwardly, as the bump was getting much bigger now.

"Doctor," she asked. "When we have the baby, will we go to a hospital?"

"River, this is five months away."

"Doctor, seriously. I want to know what we're doing and be prepared for it. I've been stressing and I just want to know that our baby will be OK."

"Well, I guess we'll go into a hospital, if that's what you want."

"OK."

"River, I'm just going to pop back into the TARDIS for about five minutes. I think I left the sonic radar cleaner thingy on The Lost Moon of Poosch and I need to go get it. I _really_ don't need the radar blowing up in my face. I'll be about five minutes. You unpack the pikelets."

River stared at him, confused. She'd seen the radar cleaner in the TARDIS ten minutes earlier and they had last visited The Lost Moon of Poosch a fortnight ago.

"He's up to something," she muttered. "That man."

As the Doctor dashed into the TARDIS, he felt guilt seeping into his body. He didn't want to lie to River, but he didn't want to put off the telling Amy and Rory thing. If they put it off too long, a Centurion sword would be permanently embedded in his skull when the baby was born. He didn't even see why River didn't want to tell her parents.

"Women," he muttered, then "Uh oh," as he felt brushes of telepathy enter his mind. River knew _exactly_ what he was going to do.

"NO DOCTOR!" he heard her yell as the door swang shut and the TARDIS disappeared, leaving her on Mexetor 3.

"Shit!" River cried as the TARDIS faded away into the Vortex. She didn't even _know_ why she didn't want him to tell them, in fact she didn't even mind if he did now, but she had an unshakeable sense of dread that her husband was heading for danger. Bloody big danger.

"Hello, Child of the TARDIS."

River spun around, confused and shocked and wanting to throw up. Madam Kovarian stood smiling on the rocky asteroid ground. Her old mentor, someone she even called her friend, once upon a long time ago.

"What have you done to the Doctor?" she demanded.

"The same as I'm about to do to you," Kovarian laughed. "You were stunned in a bush, so we could extract information about your baby. And now, we're going to _steal _it. You're coming back to Demon's Run to see your precious Doctor."

"NO!" River yelled in shock and horror. "You can't do what you did to Amy!"

"Oh, but we can. Raising you as a psychopath didn't work, but your child might."

"You are _never_ turning my baby into what I once was!"

"Of course I am. The Doctor _must die_ and you know it, _Melody_."

"My name is not Melody. It is River Song. Leave me alone, you bitch."

"Don't be angry with your _mother_."

"YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER!" River screamed and ran, sobbing, away from her nightmare adopted mother, running to God knows where, her heart pounding and throat aching from her cries. She felt like a little girl again, like shy, innocent Melody Pond, shaped to be a monster. Her baby could never ever _ever_ be that.

But the buttons on Jack's old Vortex Manipulator were being pressed by some unknown, deadly force, and River looked down at her wrist in terrified alarm as she was whisked away, to the hell of Demon's Run.


	6. Out of her Mind

**Out of her Mind**

**Sorry I haven't updated for so long, I'll try to keep on track! Keep reviewing, love u all ;D**

River opened her eyes and tried not to cry. White everywhere. And it smelt like...like...oh, she didn't know what exactly. A hospital smell.

"Doctor?" she moaned, but the words were sluggish and her throat hurt. The tears spilled from her eyes and she tried to move, but even breathing hurt, and something was cutting into her wrists and ankles. Straps. She was strapped down to a table.

"Doctor?" More insistently, urgently. She knew by now that she was drugged, but if she hadn't been drugged and scared and pregnant, she and the Doctor would be out of here by now.

"DOCTOR!" she screamed. But no one came and her heart was pounding faster and faster and she could barely see for all the tears clouding her vision...

"Hello, Melody."

"NO!" River blinked away her sobs and stared up into the face of her enemy. Madam Kovarian. "Where's the Doctor? Where is he?"

"That's none of _your_ business. I need a new psychopath. I can speed up your pregnancy and your baby will be _mine_."

"He'll never let you."

"Oh, well he's not exactly in a position to do anything either. You stupid, stupid girl. You didn't _think_ that we would try to steal your baby, did you?"

"No, no, no, please..."

"How touching it will be. The new psychopath will kill its own father."

"SHUT UP!"

"Now, Melody, don't be rude. I raised you. I showed you the Untempered Schism. You know everything from me."

"The Doctor has taught me more than in three months than you ever did in TWENTY YEARS!"

"Oh, shut up, you're getting tiring."

"_Listen to me!_"

"No, dear, I have to go check on our _other_ prisoner."

"Wait!"

"What is it, Melody?"

"Tell...tell him...actually no, show him this." She managed to extract a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and Kovarian snatched it up. It was covered in High Gallifreyan symbols.

"You can read it, you taught me Gallifreyan. You know it's not a war code or something, so give it to him. Please." River stared at her insistently until it became almost unnerving and Kovarian turned away.

"Fine, I'll give it to him." The door slammed shut and River could only hope and pray that he'd understand.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The Doctor saw Kovarian's menacingly happy face staring through the bars of his cell. "_Tick tock, goes the clock,"_ she whispered. "Until Melody's psychopath is born."

Comprehension rushed through the Doctor. "River?" he stammered. "She's alive?"

"Yes."

"But you can't! Our baby can't be..."

"Oh shut up, you're as boring as her. She wanted to give you this." Kovarian stuck the piece of paper through the bars and stalked off. The Doctor sprang from his small bench that was his only furniture and picked it up. It was in High Gallifreyan.

He read it through, than read it again, and again, and again. She couldn't have. She couldn't possibly be serious.

_Doctor,_

_I hope I never have to send this to you, but if you're reading this, it means that the ultimate situation has occurred and I have only one option. You know what that option is, and I'm sorry, but keep going, my love, keep travelling the stars and saving the universe. Forget me._

_I'm so sorry, my love._

_River._

"No! River!" he yelled and dropped the letter, horrified. "River, please!"

He found his sonic screwdriver and soniced the lock, then sprung out of the cell and tore down the corridor. He had no idea if there were Headless Monks or the Silence around, but he wasn't going to wait to find out. "River!"

The Doctor could guess she wouldn't be in a cell, she was too important. There were three white doors and he peered through the locks of the first one. Oh. The Headless Monks were having a prayer meeting.

Second one. Someone lying helplessly on a table. He couldn't see too clearly, but anything was possible when it came to Madam Kovarian. He soniced the lock and stepped through the door. "River?"

"No, my love," she whispered. "Stop!"

"River, I am not going to let you commit suicide."

"It's not because I want to, and our baby will be kept alive, even if the mother dies!"

"And you want our son or daughter to become what Melody Pond once was?"

"I...I can't," she whispered. The Doctor suddenly realised how hard it must be for River, seeing Kovarian again and knowing that her baby would be brought up to kill her husband.

"River, I can save you," he promised her.

"And she'll just try to find us again, and again, and again. Do you want to be running all your days?"

"I already am running."

"Either Kovarian dies or I die."

"River, River...for God's sake! Why do you have to be Amy Pond's daughter?"

"Run, my love. Please, please, just run."

The Doctor stared at her in disbelief and turned to a table full of tools. Sneakily, he grabbed one, his back hiding it and turned around again, striding toward River. "You're not in your senses," he told her, and plunged the syringe into her arm. River stared at him in alarm.

"Doctor, what have you - " Her head slumped back and her eyelids closed.

"Sorry to knock you out," he said, and tore the straps from her arms and legs. She promptly rolled off the table.

Sighing, the Doctor went and picked her up, then walked to another table, where lay River's precious belongings. The Vortex Manipulator lay at the helm, battered and smoking, but still working reasonably enough. He managed to strap it around both their wrists and dialled where he wanted to go, ending with an overly flourished 4 and 9.

"Let's get out of here," he said to the sleeping River, as a blue light flashed around them and they teleported back into the TARDIS.

As soon as they landed, River's eyes flew open and she crumpled to the floor. The Doctor helped her up and she glanced down at her belly protectively, but her eyes were widening in shock and horror.

"What is it?" asked the Doctor.

"Shit!" yelled River.


End file.
